Refried Beans

Per Wiki, re-fried beans is mashed and cooked beans and is a staple in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisines.

I heard of re-fried beans during my bachelorette years in the U.S. Initially I thought that they were some kind of fried beans and I wondered how they managed to fry beans? I imagined green beans smothered in some kind of batter and fried! And why refried I wondered? Do they fry them twice?

I got my answers when I found out that refried beans were actually kidney or pinto beans(usually pinto beans – the light pink variety of beans) mashed and cooked in mexican spices. This yummy concoction is often used in their burritos or fajitas and my personal favorite quesadillas. When I had my very own kitchen to play (those were the days!) I tried creating quesadillas with some home-made re-fried beans. I am not a big fan of store brought ready food plus being a Taurian I have the patience of bull when it comes to creating anything. I made this again recently for a Sunday lunch and it was stuffed into quesadillas [with home-made tortillas of course] and served with Mexican rice. The recipes for the quesadillas and mexican rice shall follow but here is my version of the recipe for re-fried beans without the frying 🙂

1 cup of red kidney beans a.k.a Rajma

1 medium sized onion finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped / mashed

2 small-medium sized tomatoes Tomatoes pureed. You can also use them finely chopped

Salt to taste

Cumin Powder – 1.5 tbsp

Mexican Spice Seasoning – 2 tsp. I discovered this at Nuts and Spices while I was looking for Chipotle and paprika seasoning Don’t worry if you don’t have this. This is fusion food after all

Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp

Olive oil – 2tbsp

You are all set to get your beans going…..

Wash and soak the kidney beans overnight and pressure cook them for about 4-5 whistles the next day

Add some olive oil to a hot pan and dump the mashed garlic and onions. Add a pinch of salt and saute them until the onions start turning transparent /golden brown

Add the tomato puree, followed by the dry spices and cook until the gravy starts leaving the sides of the pan

Drain the kidney beans but save some of the water in which they were cooked! This could be a great stock to prepare soups and other curries 🙂

Add the kidney beans to the onion-tomato mixture and mix well to incorporate the spices. Do a quick taste check and adjust the seasoning as per your taste.

Now add some of the water in which the kidney beans were cooked and mash beans with a masher or the back of your cooking spoon. I prefer a rough mash though I have found that many recipes mash the beans to a paste which is good too. You can just run you mixture in a food processor or a mixer once they are cooked for a fine paste

One the beans have been mashed cook well until the mixture starts turning dry. Switch of the stove and you are done.

Your re-fried beans are read to use

Take care not to dry it out this paste too much as you may end up with a bean paste that is hard to spread. You also need to take care that the mixture is not too soggy as this may lead to a soggy mess of your quesadillas or fajita

I also discovered that these are great as dips for veggies, spreads for sandwiches and chapathis which can be eaten as wraps. Now this is what I call eating healthy 🙂

And if you are still interested on why this recipe is called re-fried beans, here is some information